


Accidents Happen

by Swump (Zelan)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Eye Trauma, Gen, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Team Voltron Family, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 03:02:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11477259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelan/pseuds/Swump
Summary: don't go on tumblr too much or you'll write i&i fic for a show you've never seenReal Summary: Keith gets something in his eye and then he gets something worse in his eye. Whump ensues.





	Accidents Happen

Shiro was up first for breakfast, as usual. The other paladins shuffled in one at a time, blinking blearily as they sat down for their food goo. Silence reigned for a few minutes as the five tried to wake themselves up. Eventually, some idle chatter began and everyone sat up a little straighter in their chairs, bright-eyed and ready to begin the day.

Everyone except Keith. Hunk was the first to notice him still blinking as if trying to clear his eyes. “You doing okay over there, Keith?” he asked.

Keith lifted his head so that the paladins could plainly make out his face. One eye was noticeably red and irritated. “I’m fine. Just got something in my eye,” he answered tersely. By now, everyone had just about finished eating. Training would begin in a few minutes.

“You should try flushing it with water before you go to training,” Lance suggested.

“No need.” Keith ran a finger under the irritated eye. “It’s just an eyelash or something. I can blink it out.”

“It looks like it’s been bothering you for a while, though,” Lance countered. “It’ll be way faster if you just flush it. And you can’t blink your way through training. I’d have an unfair advantage.” Lance’s sentence was punctuated by a cheeky grin. Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Go on, Keith,” Shiro said. “You won’t miss much. And your eye will feel way better once it’s over with.” Keith hesitated a moment longer, still looking unconvinced.

“Oh, just come on. I can help you with it, I’ve done this plenty of times,” Lance offered. “It’ll be fast, I promise.” Without waiting for a response, he pushed his chair back and headed for the bathroom.

The other three looked at Keith expectantly. “All right, all right,” he grumbled, finally relenting. He stood and made his way after Lance, one hand cupped over his sore eye. “But you guys better not start training without me,” he called over his shoulder.

\-----

“Okay, so just lean over the sink with your left eye at the bottom,” Lance instructed, holding a small cup filled with water. “Try to keep your eye open while I pour.”

“Which means don’t scowl at me. It needs to be _open_.”

Keith gave an exasperated huff but did as he was told, opening his eye as wide as it would go. The first stream of water surprised him and his head involuntarily jerked back.

“Sorry,” came Lance’s voice as Keith blinked furiously. “Shoulda warned you I was starting.”

Keith bit back a snappy retort. “It’s fine, just keep going,” he replied instead, getting back into position.

“I’m gonna grab you so I can tilt your head a little, okay?” At Keith’s nod, Lance cupped a hand under his chin and turned it a bit towards the ceiling. He left his hand there in an attempt to keep Keith in place for the second flush. This time, Keith stayed where he was, but his eye shut almost as soon as the water hit it.

“Keep it open,” Lance reminded him. “The water won’t do anything if it isn’t in your eye.”

Keith shook his head in frustration. “This isn’t working, Lance. Let’s just go back to training, it’s not a big deal.”

“What isn’t working?” came a voice from outside the bathroom. The boys turned to see Allura and Coran standing outside, looking in curiously.

“Shiro said we’d find you here,” Allura said. “What’s the problem?”

“Keith has something in his eye,” said Lance, ignoring Keith’s pointed glare. “We were trying to flush it out.”

“Your eye? We can take care of that easily,” Allura assured him. “We’ve got something for that.”

“You run along, Lance,” Coran added cheerfully. “We’ll have Keith at training in just a tick!”

Lance shrugged, having no reason to argue, and took off down the hall. Keith sighed inwardly - the last thing he wanted was more fussing over his eye - but he knew that Allura and Coran wouldn’t be letting him go easily. He resigned himself to trudging behind them to the infirmary.

Once the three got there, Keith plopped himself down into a chair and crossed his arms. His impatience grew as Coran bustled around preparing things. It had probably been ten dobashes already since breakfast. 

Finally, Coran finished up, and Allura approached Keith with a smile. “This will clean your eye completely,” she said confidently. “I’m going to hold your eye open so it can rinse the whole thing, okay, Keith?”

“Fine,” he mumbled, letting himself relax as Allura used her thumb and forefinger to spread his eyelids apart. He figured it would be no worse than what he’d gone through with Lance.

Keith was completely unprepared for the burning that followed Coran’s mixture. He whipped his head savagely to the side, shocking Allura, as a pained screech escaped him. He desperately pawed at his eye, all common sense departed.

“Keith? Keith, what’s wrong!?” Allura’s voice bordered on hysteria as Keith continued to scream and paw. Normally cool under pressure, the two Alteans found themselves frozen in terror upon seeing Keith in such a state. The sound of footsteps thundering down the hallway could be heard - the other paladins had heard the commotion.

Keith was losing control of his senses. All that he could focus on was the pain. His screams had quieted to muffled whimpers. The last things that he registered were his arms being grabbed and someone - Shiro?- yelling, _“You put WHAT in his eye?”_

\-----

The other four paladins had been lounging around waiting for Keith before the screams began. No communication had been necessary for all of them to leap to their feet and sprint for the source.

When they arrived, a horrifying sight spread in front of them. Keith was frantically grabbing at his eye, clearly in immense pain, while Coran and Allura looked on, uncertain and fearful. Shiro immediately started questioning the two of them on what had happened, while Pidge, Hunk, and Lance went straight to Keith’s side.

Lance arrived there first, grabbing Keith by the wrists and forcing his hands away so Lance could get a better look at his face. He inhaled sharply as soon as he did so, as did Pidge and Hunk as they came up behind him.

The paladins barely noticed the shout of _“You put WHAT in his eye?”_ as they processed what they were seeing. Shiro snapped them out of it. “Chemical burn,” he barked as he jogged over to them. “We need to-”

“Hunk, pick him up and carry him to the bathroom,” Lance ordered, releasing Keith’s wrists. He noted with worry that Keith dropped his hands limply to his sides, whimpering pathetically. He seemed to be in too much shock to react to anything. Hunk scooped up the injured boy without comment, and as soon as his grip was secure the paladins rushed from the room, once again running as one.

Lance took charge again once they got there. “Sit down and keep his body propped up. Pidge, hold his head in position.” Hunk promptly sat down on the closed toilet lid and shifted the red paladin to a more upright position. Pidge put a hand behind Keith’s head and propped it up. Lance, meanwhile, grabbed two cups, tossing one to Shiro. He fumbled a bit but managed to catch it.

“Shiro, you’re gonna keep the cups filled so I don’t have to bother with it,” Lance continued, filling his own cup. “I need to be able to turn and grab a new one as soon as I finish.” Shiro nodded and took Lance’s spot in front of the sink as Lance began flushing. He held Keith’s eye open as the water ran over it and dribbled onto the floor. The paladins spared no thought to trying to keep the floor clean - fixing Keith’s eye was top priority right then.

The group worked in a terse, nervous silence, even the usually chatty Lance too focused to speak. The flushing was mostly smooth and continuous - Lance methodically poured and switched. Once he accidentally dropped his empty cup instead of placing it on the counter, causing Shiro to be slow on the refill. Another time, Keith suddenly became aware again of his surroundings and began struggling. Pidge and Hunk had to readjust their grips to prevent him from slipping onto the floor.

After what felt like countless hours of repeated flushing, Lance shook his tired hands out and rolled his shoulders. Keith had passed out at some point during the process. “How long has it been?” he asked. “I don’t know if that was enough.”

“Judging by the state of the floor,” Shiro said, inclining his head, “we used an awful lot of water. If that hasn’t at least gotten most of it out, I’m not sure that any more would help.” The floor was absolutely soaked with water; Pidge stood in a puddle.

Lance rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He hadn’t actually taken a good look at Keith’s eye while he’d been flushing out. He did so then, using his fingers to gently pry the eyelids apart. What he saw made him grimace. The eye was barely recognizable.

Letting it close again, Lance turned and came face-to-face with Allura and Coran. The two stood just outside the bathroom, looking in with wide, frightened eyes. Lance had no idea how long they had been standing out there.

Shiro was the first to speak up. “It’s not your fault,” he said quietly. “You didn’t know the effect on humans.”

Allura took in a shaky breath. “Still, we should have asked him, or Lance, or…” She trailed off, biting her lip.

Shiro placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Allura, look at me. You are not to blame. That goes for you, too, Coran,” he added, spotting the Altean’s anxious expression. “You know Keith would say the same thing.”

“I think,” Hunk spoke up, “instead of blaming ourselves, we should focus on helping Keith.”

Pidge nodded her agreement. “We’ve completely flushed his eye, but we still need to do what we can to repair the damage.”

The group nodded soberly at her words. “I’ll stay in here and get this mess cleaned up,” Lance said. “The last thing we need is to have someone slip and fall in chemical water.”

“Hunk, you can carry Keith to the infirmary,” Shiro ordered. “Coran can work on him there.”

“The three of you should stay on hand for advice,” Allura added. “Just in case… so we don’t…” She didn’t have to finish for the team to understand what she meant. 

Without further words, Hunk once again lifted Keith in his arms, and the group sans Lance headed to the infirmary at a much slower pace than the first time. Lance started looking for a rag.

\-----

It was several vargas before Lance joined the rest of the team in the infirmary. The tense work of tending to Keith followed by a complete cleaning of the bathroom had left him worn out, so he slumped down in a chair and closed his eyes as soon as.he got there. Coran’s work was mostly silent aside from the occasional murmured exchange with one of the paladins.

At long last, he straightened up and looked around at the gathered group. Hunk nudged Lance, who had dozed off.

“I’ve done everything I can for now,” Coran announced. His voice had a rough edge to it. “I’m going to bandage it up and then we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Pulling his gloves off, Coran added, “I sedated him before I started, so it’ll be a while yet before that wears off. Someone should stay with him at all times in case he needs anything when he wakes up.”

“I’ll go first,” Shiro volunteered. “The rest of you go and get something to eat. It’s been a long day.” When the others looked like they wanted to protest, Shiro gave them a look that said he was not going to argue with them.

One by one, the team filed out of the infirmary.

\-----

Pidge returned an hour later to relieve Shiro and pass along some food goo. He accepted it with a quiet thanks and went off to eat it alone in his room.

Pidge was followed by Coran, then Lance, then Hunk. Keith still slept on. Allura was left sitting at his bedside in the dark infirmary that night.

She had nearly fallen asleep herself when a rustling sound startled her awake. “Keith?” she whispered hopefully.

There was a pause, and then “Allura?” Keith sounded groggy - Allura had wondered if they hadn’t gone a touch overboard with the sedative - but otherwise fine.

“I’m here,” she reassured him. “Are you all right? Is there anything you need?” 

She made out Keith shifting, as though he were trying to sit up, and placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. Keith lay back without protest. “What happened?” he asked.

There was nothing accusatory in his voice, but a pang of guilt sliced through Allura nonetheless. “How much do you remember?” She figured it would be easiest to pick up from where Keith left off.

“This morning,” Keith began after a moment, “Lance was trying to flush my eye. It didn’t work and then you and Coran came. And that’s all I’ve got.”

There was no putting it off, Allura supposed. “Coran and I didn’t realize that the substance we used was harmful to humans,” she admitted. “We poured it on your eye and… well, I suppose you can imagine what happened from there.”

Keith remained silent. Allura pursed her lips, swallowing down the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Keith,” she whispered.

He turned his head suddenly, so that his good eye was pointed in her direction. “Don’t apologize,” he told her firmly. “It’s as much my fault as anyone else’s. I should have asked what you were using rather than assuming that it would work fine. Instead, I was too focused on getting to training to think about anything else.”

It wasn’t enough for Allura’s guilt to dissipate entirely. She knew, though, that Keith was right. Neither of them had been smart about the situation, and neither of them was to blame. Dwelling on it would do no good.

Taking a deep breath, Allura nodded. “I know. Thank you.”

Keith nodded awkwardly and rested his head on the pillow again. After a few ticks of silence, he spoke up again. “You know what, Allura?”

Mystified by his neutral tone, Allura wasn’t sure what to think, but she obliged him. “What is it?”

“That thing isn’t in my eye anymore.”

Allura snorted halfheartedly. “Go back to sleep, you.” The only answer was a muffled chuckle before the two fell asleep.

\-----

Keith had put on a brave face in front of Allura the night before, but now that he was waiting for Coran to take the bandage off his nerves were starting to get the better of him. All Keith knew was that his eye was damaged. How badly was what he was about to find out. Keith worried that his injury would prevent him from fighting alongside his teammates.

He was distracted from his thoughts when Coran walked in, followed by Allura and the rest of the paladins. Keith tried not to let his anxiety show, meeting Coran’s eyes evenly as he sat down across from Keith on his bed.

“Are you ready?” he asked softly. Wordlessly, Keith nodded. With a delicate touch, Coran undid the bandage covering the side of Keith’s face, positioning his body so that Keith was hidden from view of the others.

As the last pieces fell away, Keith blinked open his injured eye. The first thing he noticed was how blurry the vision was. Instinctively, he reached a hand towards it, only to have it pulled gently away by Coran. The Altean tilted Keith’s bad eye towards him, giving it a long look.

“It’s certainly not good,” he muttered finally. “But I think it could have been much worse, too.” He stood up, and Keith immediately hissed, wincing in pain. Coran had been blocking the light overhead; now it shone directly into Keith’s eye, which was apparently sensitive. Noticing this, Hunk flipped the light switch next to him, earning him a grateful glance. 

“Would you like to see it?” Allura asked kindly, offering him a hand mirror. After only a tick’s hesitation, Keith took it.

It was difficult to make out with such a small mirror and only one fully functional eye, but Keith managed to find an angle that worked. He cringed inwardly at the sight. A cloudy film seemed to cover most of his eye, with the thickest part directly over top of his pupil. The skin around his eye was an angry red color, and the eye itself was swollen. Keith guessed that it would feel tender if he reached up and touched it. He was unable to look away from the foggy eye. How could he possibly go into battle like this?

He was startled from his reverie when Lance placed a hand on his shoulder, seemingly from out of nowhere - the paladins had all crept closer. Keith realized with embarrassment that he must have been staring at his reflection for several minutes.

“You’re gonna have to start training again as soon as possible, twice as hard,” Lance informed him with the barest hint of a grin.

Keith was baffled. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll have to learn how to compensate for a weaker eye.” Lance stated it matter-of-factly, as if it were a conclusion that anyone could have reached. The two paladins locked eyes and, although half of Lance’s face was hazy, Keith understood the look that passed between them. Lance had accurately guessed Keith’s fears about fighting. Keith may not have been confident in his own abilities, but Lance was - a vote of confidence from someone who considered Keith his rival.

Keith gave a small nod. “Right. Yeah.”

Now Pidge stepped forward. The dark circles under her eyes indicated that she had been up all night. “This is for you,” she said, holding something up. Keith couldn’t tell what is was, but he extended cupped hands and Pidge laid the object in them.

Upon closer inspection Keith realized that the object was an eye patch, sleek and perfectly shaped. Keith knew just by looking at it that it would fit him perfectly, protecting his eye while it recovered as much as it could. Pidge had clearly poured her heart into it, not letting herself rest until it was perfect.

“Thanks.” Keith’s voice cracked embarrassingly and he swallowed thickly, not trusting himself to speak further than that. Thankfully, no one teased him for it, not even Lance.

Shiro stood next to him now, taking the eye patch from his still-cupped hands. “Here, let’s put this on.” Keith allowed himself to be helped, closing his eye as Shiro carefully slipped the patch over his head. “Feel okay?” Keith adjusted it a touch and then nodded.

“Lookin’ good, Red Paladin,” Hunk said with a grin. “Handsome as always.”

A smile curved Keith’s lips. “Well, duh.”


End file.
